Term 3 Week 4

A cold couple of weeks at Muritai! Here's the highlights from the past two weeks.

 Science with Ms Coton

For the past two Friday Ms Coton has been working with classes in Science. Classes have been investigating the question ‘What is fire?’ As part of the lessons students have learned about the chemical processes that occur when things burn, made careful observations of flames, learned about thermal energy, used wine guns to model chemical changes at the molecular level, and had fun investigating different ways to put out fire.

Key Competencies

This year the teachers and students  at Muritai are learning about the New Zealand Curriculum's Key Competencies - Thinking, Using Symbols Language and Text, Relating to Others, Managing Self, Participating and Contributing.

People use these competencies to live, learn, work, and contribute as active members of their communities. More complex than skills, the competencies draw also on knowledge, attitudes, and values in ways that lead to action. They are not separate or stand-alone. They are the key to learning in every learning area.

Successful learners make use of the competencies in combination with all the other resources available to them. As they develop the competencies, successful learners are also motivated to use them, recognising when and how to do so and why.

Our senior students created a resource that we hope can be used not only in our classrooms but in other rooms around the school, to create an awareness of the importance of these Key Competencies so we can all be successful learners.

Here is Room 22's slideshow. Watch this space for more from Room 23 and 24!




Jump 4 Star Jam

On Wednesday we headed to the hall for some Jump Jam! Its been a long time since many of us had a go at this... we loved it! Of course, this was for Jump 4 Star Jam. Starjam is a platform where young people with disabilities can meet together to make new friends, learn new skills and have lots of fun by taking part in weekly workshops in song, dance, guitar and percussion. They then share these talents through a variety of performance opportunities. Starjam is 100% funded by private trusts, grants and donations. 

What was even better about our session was Rosie and Helena were able to share their routine they created for their Personal Passion Project in Term 2. Awesome work girls!

Some great moves to Ice, Ice Baby... word to ya mother!

Beehave

Our Mike Weston mural has finally complete! It looks fantastic in the playground. A big well done to our Art Ambassadors, some other Room 24 helpers and Mrs Allen. Check out this awesome time lapse movie Noah from Muritai TV created which documents the entire process. Top job!



Fraction homework

We were incredibly impressed with some of the homework completed by students based on fractions and percentages. Nice work Matiu for getting into the kitchen at home and created some very tasty chocolate chip bikkies! Nom, nom!

Disco

What a great  way to end the week with a bit of dance off! Looks like a heap of us had a great time at the disco last Friday - great dancing and great company!

Term 3 Week 2

Term 3 is now in full swing! Its hard to believe we are half way through the year already! Here's some snippets of what the seniors have been up to at Muritai for the first two weeks of the term. Badminton For PE of this term our Year 7/8s are focusing on improving their striking skills. To start the term we are in the hall learning at the art of badminton. What a great game! We are learning there are quite different skills needed from other striking sports like tennis.

Gossiping Woman - Philip Trusttum Over the past couple of Fridays Mrs Allen has been working in Room 22 and 23, teaching drawing techniques using works from the artist Philip Trusttum. The students have experimented with creating a series of drawings using colour, black and white and different textures. Below are some examples of some finished or near finished pieces - looking good!

Northland Film Competition We are immensely proud of Samantha, Isabella and Emma in Year 8 who have just received 1st place in the Northland Film Competition. The 3 girls entered their short film they made from their Personal Passion Project in Term 2. These girls worked pretty much completely independently throughout the entire process, including using their own initiative find and enter this competition. The film was shown at the ANZAC Theatre in Dargaville and was judged by a large panel which included Winston Peters!! The judges commended them on their acting and filming techniques. Congratulations girls - what a top job! $300 is coming your way!! Muritai TV Speaking of film making, Olivia and Mila from the Muritai TV team have also been busy filming and packaging up an movie on inform students on what bullying is and what we can do about it. Well done girls, this is an important issue to talk about with your peers. I like how some interviewees talked about bullying being something that is ongoing and repetitive not a one off event. Rubbish audit At the end of last term of Enviro Ambassadors initiated a rubbish audit throughout the school to gauge how much waste our student body was producing every week. They put their maths skills to the test by using just 10% of student population to make some general statements about the waste we produce as a whole. The purpose of the audit was to find out how much knowledge the students had about waste disposal (eg compost vs waste) plus create an awareness around our waste and how we could do things better. Watch is space because in a couple of weeks the team will be actioning a 'Nude Food Week' across the school. Sounds exciting guys!